Whow, this seems to be a subject that arouses PIClisters even more than the
best C compiler, robotic lawn things, religious and political matters
together.

If a few hundered chickens provide a good average and chicken death is not
too much of a problem you could initially put a known amount of chickens in
a box on a scale, treat them exactly the same as the other thousands of
chickens, and have a continuous measure. Maybe you could remove the dead
ones manualy and correct for their number.

Wouter.